Valve attaching and inflating machine



April 9, 1929. s MALKE 1,708,480

VALVE ATTACHING AND INFLATING momma filed June so, 1926 1 s Sheets-Sheet1 Apr-i119, 1929.

S. MALKE VALVE ATTACHING AND INFLATING MACHINE Filed Jim so, 1926 3Sheets-Sheet 2 April 9, 1929. s. MALKE VALVE ATTACHING AND INFLATINGMACHINE Filed June 50, 1926 Y 3 Sheets-Sheet Patented Apr. 9, 1929. i 41,708,480

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SVEN MALKE, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

VALVE ATTACHING AND INFLATING MACHINE.

Application filed June 30, 1926. Serial No. 119,781.

This invention relates to a valve attachframe work 1 supported by aplurality of ing and inflating machine for the inner spaced verticalstandards 2, and joined tubes of tires. thereto by means of diagonalbraces 3.

Heretofore, it has been the universal prac- These members are allpreferably of tubular tice to manually insert and lock the fillingconstruction. The inner ends of the hori- 55 nipples or valves to theinner tubes and to zontal members are received by a central thereafterinflate the tubes. This probearing 4 through which a vertical hollowcedure has necessarily been slow and laborispindle 5 projects. Thisspindle carries a ous and has, therefore, consumed quite a bevel gear 6adjacent its lower end and is re- 10 material amount of time. ceived ina suitable bearing 7. The spin- 60 This invention is designed toovercome the dle is supplied with compressed air by defects noted aboveand objects of such inmeans of the supply pipe 8, for a purpose ventionare to provide a machine for attachhereinafter to appear. Further, it isto be ing and locking the nipple or valve in place noted that the bevelgear is driven by a and for automatically inflating the tubes, bevelpinion 9 carried by a driving shaft 65 so that the operator may rapidlyposition 10, driven from any suitable source of, the tubes upon themachine, such tubes bepower.

ing automatically discharged from the ma- The outer ends of thehorizontal radial ClllIlQWltll the valve attached and Wlth the arms 1are joined by means of an annular tube in inflated condltion. track 11having upper and lower flanges, 70

Further objects are to provide a novel as shown most clearly inFigure 1. machine adapted to perform the operations Th i dl 5 a i a t lh ll heretofore manually performed, and to yet head 12 whi h a be equippd ith a provide a machine which is Of very simpl gauge 13, if desired,and which receives the and practical construction, and o e WlllCh 1Sinner ends of a plurality of radial arms 14-. 75 thoroughly reliable inoperation. The outer ends of the arms are joined by Further objects areto provide a milc means of an annular member 15, preferably forattaching the valves to inner tubes wi h of. channel shape to secure themaximum subsequent inflation of such tubes and to strength andlightness. All of the arms are so construct the mechanism that the valveclosed at their outer ends to prevent escape 30 receiving chucks orunits are rocked into a of air, and certain of the arms are providedposition to adapt them for the ready recepwith downwardly extending airpipes 16 tion of a valve, and the ready positioning of which communicatewith an annular air a tube, and to thereafter rock the chucks pipe 17.This annular air pipe supplies a downwardly into the position where theyplurality of radial outwardly pro ecting may be inflated. pipes 18, asmay be seen from Figures 1 An embodiment of the invention is shown and2. These pipes are each provided with in the accompanying drawings inwhich a cut off manually operable valve 19, and Figure 1 is a verticalsectional view with an automatic valve 20, the valve 20 40 through theapparatus, being provided with a crank arm equipped Figure 2 is afragmentary plan view with a cam operated roller 21, hereinafterthereof; described in greater detail.

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view on The annular channel shapedmember 15 the line 3-3 of Figure 2; carries a plurality of downwardlyand out- 45 Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line wardly extendingdiagonal arms 22 ar- I 44 of Figure 3; ranged at regular intervals.These diago- Figure 5 is a sectional view on the line nally extendingarms 22 carry short, hori- 55 of Figure 3. zontal, hollow shafts 23,which are con Referring to the drawings, it will be seen nected at oneend with the air supply pipe. 50 that the machine comprises a horizontal18. (See Figure 3.) These hollow shafts also pivotally carry the heads24 of chucks, such heads being provided with projecting arms 25 whichcarry controlling or guiding rollers 26, fitting within the track orchannel 11, and thus control the position of the chucks. The majorportion of the track 11 extends in a horizontal plane completely- V thetrack, indicated at 28, thus rocking the chucks upwardly. Thus cammingmeans are provided for holding the chucks in upper position to permitthe ready insertion of the valve end into an inner tube, as willhereinafter appear. As they pass from the portion 28 to the otherdeflected part 27 they are rocked back into their normal position.

The chucks each comprise a central hollow stem 29 upon which isrevolubly mounted a sleeve 30. This sleeve is rigidly locked to amanipulating lever 31, as shown in Figure 3. Further, the sleeve 30 isprovided with an inwardly projecting bottom flange 32. This flange 32,as may be seen from Figure 4, 1s provided w1th an oval or rectangularshaped opening 33 through which the stem 34 of the tire valve or nipplemay project, when inserted therein. However, two of the sides of theopening 33 are provided with internal threads 35, which normally engagethe threaded part of the valve stem 34, when the valve is locked to thechuck. However, to permit inserting the valve, the lever 31 is given aquarter swing to bring the teeth 35 of the flange 32 opposite the flatface 36 of the valve. Thus, the valve may be readily inserted andthereafter the lever rocked a quarter of a turn to lock the valve inplace and to draw the valve inwardly. The inward motion of the valveforces its outer end against a gasket 37 (see Figure 3) mounted withinthe central. portion 29, of the chuck, this gasket being" carried by aninwardly extending shoulder. It is to be noted also from Figure 3, thatthe central stem 29, carries within its interior a downwardly projectingrod 38 which is adapted to displace the valve stem of the valve properso as to permit the ready entrance of the pressure am of a pulley 40.This hub is threaded at its lower end and carries a shell like sleeve 41which extends downwardly around the valve.

The sleeve 30 revolubly carries the hub 39 valve stem. In the normaloperation of the machine, the valves are received by the machine withthe nut unscrewed, as illustrated in Figure 3, and with the washer orbearing member 43 positioned between the head of the stem and the nut42. It is to be noted from Figure 3 that the lower end of the extensionor shell 41 of the pulley hub is socketed and is adapted to restupon thenut 42, when the parts are in the position shown in Figure 3. Further,it is to be noted that the pulley is supported by the nut and,consequently, the nut is held in the socket of the sleeve 41.

\Vhen there is no valve stem held in the chuck, the bottom of the hub isadapted to rest upon the flange 44 of the sleeve 30 to prevent thepulley from sliding from the sleeve. 7

It is to be noted from reference to Figure 2 that a pin 45, as indicatedin the lower portion or the figure, is carried by the stationary frameand is adapted to engage the lever 31, when the rotary member travels inthe direction indicated by the arrow, thus rocking the lever into chuckunlocking position and permitting the valve stem and the tube carriedthereby, to drop from the chuck. It is to be noted further fromreference to Figure 2 that a cam 46 is provided for rocking the leversof the valve 20 into valve closing position, such cam member 46 engagingthe rollers 21 of the valve. Further, it is to be noted from samefigure, that a second cam 47 is provided for rocking rollers 21 intovalve opening position to permit the entrance of air through the chuckand to the tube.

Means are provided for rapidly rotating the pulleys while the rotarymember is in motion. This means comprises an endless belt 48 (see Figure2) which travels on pulleys 49, and which engages the pulleys 40 as theypass the inner stretch of the belt. Thus the pulleys 40 are rapidlyrotated and screw the nuts 42 (see Figure of the valves into lockingposition. 7 j

The operation of the machine is as follows The operator drops a valveinto an upturned chuck, as shown at A in Figures 1 and 2. He then rocksthe lever. 31 into the dotted position shown in the lower left handportion 01": Figure 2, thus causing the teeth or threaded portions 35 ofthe flange 32 (see Figures 3 and 4) toengage the threaded portion of thevalve and to thus lock the valve in place. He then fits the aperturedportion of the inner tube 50 over the inner-head of the upturned orinverted valve, as shown in dotted lines on the right hand side ofFigure 1. It is to be understood that the revolving member iscontinuously in motion and that these operations may be quicklyperformed by the attendant. As the machine rotates, the chucks are movedback into their downwardly extending position as they pass the inwardlydirected portion 27 of the track 15. In addition to this,

the air is turned on and the inflation of the inner tube begins. As themachine rotates, the pulleys 40 are engaged by the rapidly travelingbelt48 and the nut 42 is quickly screwed down into locking position, thuslocking the valves to the inner tubes. As the machine continues torotate, the inflation of the tires continues until they are brought tothe desired pressure, as indicated by the gauge 13. By this time, themachine has almost completed a revolution and the lever 31, as shown inthe bottom portion of Figure 2 is about to strike the pin 45. Continuedmotion of the machine causes the lever 31 to be rocked into detachingposition, thus permitting the inflated tube with its attached valve todrop from the machine. Just prlor to this operation, the air is cut offby the action of the cam 46 on the roller 21.

It is to be noted particularly that the operator is merely called uponto drop a valve into an upturned chuck to lock the valve in place, andto fit the apertured portion of the inner tube over the end of thevalve. The machine thereafter carries the parts around in its rotation,screws the nut into place and inflates the tube, finally dropping thetube and valve from the machine.

It will be seen, therefore that an automatic machine has been providedfor locking the valves in place and for inflating the tubes so that avery rapid operation may be secured. In addition to this, the effort onthe part of the operator is reduced to a minimum, as he has merely toperform three simple operations, namely, the dropping of the valve intoplace, the rocking of the lever 31, and the fitting of the inner tubeover the end of the valve. Thereafter, all the other steps are automaticeven to the discharging of the tube from the machine.

It is to be noted further, that the tubes are all inflated to the samepressure and, in addition thereto, that the nuts are all screwed downagainst the washers 43 (see Figure 3) to the same degree of pressure.

It thus follows that an absolutely uniform product results.

It is to be noted further that'the machine is of very simple and ofeminently practical construction.

Further, it will be seen that the machine comprises a relatively smallnumber of parts, easily produced and assembled by ordinary machine shopprocesses, without requiring elaborate castings or diflicult operations.

Further, it is to be noted that the machine may be operated even by anunskilled laborer with assurance that the product will be of uniformquality.

Although the invention has been described in considerable detail, suchdescription is intended as illustrative rather than limiting as theinvention may be variously embodied and as the scope of such inventionis to be determined as claimed.

I claim:

1. A machine for attaching valves, provided with shanks and locking nutsto inner tubes, said machine comprising a earlier, a plurality of chuckscarried by said carrier and adapted to receive said valves, each of saidchucks having a revolubly mounted member for engaging the nuts andhaving a gripping member for engaging said shanks of said valves, meansfor rotating said revolubly mounted member, and means for releasing saidgripping means after said nuts have been screwed down.

2. A machine for attaching valves to inner tubes and for inflating suchtubes, com prising a movable carrier having a plurality of valvereceiving chucks thereon adapted to receive a valve with the nut backedaway from the end of the valve, means for turning the chucks upwardly topermit positioning of the valves and positioning of the tube upon thevalve, means for rocking the chucks downwardly and screwing the nut intolocking position, and means for inflating the tire while the tire andvalve are supported from the chucks.

3. A machine for attaching valves to inner tubes, comprising a movablemember having a plurality of valve receiving chucks thereon adapted toreceive and hold the valves with the inner tubes positioned on thevalves, means carried by the chucks for engaging the locking nut of thevalves and for screwing such nut into locking position, means forinflating the tubes while the member is in motion, and means for cuttingoff the supply of air after inflation, and for disengaging the chucksfroin the valves, where by a plurality of tubes and valves may be actedupon by the machine at a single time.

4. A machine for operating upon inner tubes and valves therefor,comprising a rotary member having a plurality of chucks carried thereby,said chucks being pivotally mounted upon said rotary member and adaptedto be rocked into either an upper or a lower position, said chucks beingadapted for the reception of the valves, means for holding the chucks inupper position to permit the ready insertion of the valve end into aninner tube, means for subsequently rocking the chucks into lowerposition, means for automatically locking the valves to the inner tubes,and means for supplying compressed air to the inner tubes.

5. A machine for attaching valves to inner tubes,.comprising a rotarymember having chucks positioned at regular intervals thereon, saidchucks having valve receiving portions adapted to receive filling valveswith the locking nuts partially unscrewed,

cam means for holding the chucks in upper ply and discharging the valvesand tubes position toepermit the ready insertion of the from themachine. 10 valves into the tube and for subsequently In testimony thatI claim the foregoing I rocking the chucks into lower position, havehereunto set my hand at'MilWaukee, means for rotating a portion of thechucks in the county of Milwaukee and State of for screwing the nutsinto locking position, Wisconsin.

means for admitting compressed air to said 7 i V tubes, and means forcutting off the air sup- SVEN MALKE.

